Thousands of pieces of undelivered mail dating back to 1989 were discovered in the home of a postal worker who had recently passed away, authorities report.

Most of the mail is so old that the addresses of recipients are no longer valid, and an additional amount was too damaged to deliver. Postal authorities reported that only 12 of the pieces of mail were still deliverable.

“That’s being delivered to those customers yesterday and today by the postmaster with a letter of apology,” U.S. Postal Service spokesperson David Walton said on Friday.

This isn’t the only time such a thing has happened. Late last year Brooklyn mailman Joseph Brucato hoarded and refused to deliver some 40,000 pieces of mail.